My 30th Birthday

Another blog I read, Heather’s Dish, was talking about birthdays and I wanted to share how I celebrated my 30th birthday this year. It was back in January (before I had a blog).

I confess that I wasn’t looking forward to 30. The number freaked me out. To remedy the dread I was trying NOT to feel, I decided to plan a shindig to celebrate.

I made dinner reservations at Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon.  It’s a very cool old hotel with several different bars and restaurants in it, a spa, a golf course, and a winery.

My friends surprised me by bringing a princess crown, cape, sash, and a My Little Pony doll (’cause every princess needs a pony). It was quite the surprise.

Birthday Girl

There was a lot of good food and wine. Since this was pre-blog, I didn’t take a picture of the food. But Michael and I split an order of crab-cakes, and then I got a steak with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. So good!

Wine

It was a fantastic night and I had a great time with all my friends. The next morning, Michael and I left for a mini-vacation! We went to Sunriver, Oregon (by Bend) and stayed at Sunriver.

Sunriver was amazing! Our hotel room had a gas fireplace in it (my favorite part).

Sunriver is the perfect vacation spot for active people. The resort had miles and miles of trails for running, biking, and walking. We were there in January, so no running or biking. But we walked to their spa several times. I swam in the exclusive spa pool as well (and had it all to myself).

Spa Pool

We ate a lot of really good food. One night, we went to the fancy restaurant nearby (at the exclusive golf course) and ate a wonderful dinner.

Fancy Dinner

The first course was crab fondue. Oh. My. God. So good.

Delicious Fondue

I got the fish for dinner. I believe it was salmon and crab legs.

We also got massages (heavenly) and went snowshoeing on Mt. Bachelor.

Snowshoeing

Snowshoeing is one of my favorite activities! It was Michael’s first time and he loved it.

Snow Bunnies

If you haven’t tried snowshoeing, do it! It’s such a fantastic work out.

Snow Shoes

We also saw people doing dog sled tours. It looked cool but I had mixed feelings about it possibly being cruel to animals, so we skipped that.

Mt. Bachelor is gorgeous.

Snow

Sunriver had outdoor heated pools and several hot tubs. It was really cool to sit in the hot tub outside, surrounded by snow!

Bend has a few breweries as well–and famous ones at that. I drank a lot of beer on vacation. 🙂

Deschutes Beer

We also did some sledding! Fun!

Sledding Backwards!

It was probably my favorite birthday so far!

QUESTION: What is your favorite birthday memory?

Snowshoeing!

One of my favorite winter activities is snowshoeing. I’m fairly new to the sport, and haven’t attempted to do it on my own yet. I hope to remedy that in a few weeks when I go on vacation with some friends. We plan on renting some snowshoes and poles from REI for the weekend and exploring Mt. Bachelor.

Some people might be intimidated by the concept, but really, after a 5 minute lesson on how to put the shoes on, you’ll be fine. I suggest a guided tour at first, unless you have training in outdoor navigation. When everything is white, it’s very easy to get turned around.

Besides the fact that snowshoeing is a lot of fun, it’s a GREAT workout! If you don’t like running, but walking or hiking is your thing, snowshoeing will be a snap. It’s essentially just walking on top of snow.

Some of the benefits include:
*You burn 45% more calories snowshoeing than if you were just walking or hiking.
*Hip flexors and quadriceps can get more of a workout than just walking due to the lifting motion of each step. (Which is great news for runners and bikers!)
*It’s a low-impact aerobic exercise.
*It’s much easier to learn than skiing! 🙂

Depending on what part of the country you live in, winters can be pretty brutal. If you’re a runner and it’s snowing (like in Philly where my brother lives!), you can’t go for a run outside. Snowshoeing is a great cross-training activity.